Eyeglasses are worn during a wide range of activities. They can be prescriptive to correct visual defects, tinted to reduce eye fatigue from the sun, or provide safety when worn during hazardous activities where eye injury is at risk.
Safety glasses usually enclose or protect the eye area in order to prevent foreign objects or dangerous chemicals from striking the eyes. They are used in most industrial applications, including manufacturing facilities and chemistry laboratories. Protective eyewear is also used during various sporting activities, such as skiing or racquet sports. Safety glasses are also used by people performing various tasks around the home, including operating power tools in order to prevent flying particles from damaging the eyes.
Many types of safety glasses are available as prescription glasses for those with vision problems or can be tinted if being used outdoors or in an environment where sudden bursts of light, for instance welding, may be an issue.
There is growing awareness in manufacturing facilities that eye protection is required; both for employees and for guests visiting such facilities. This requires that safety eyewear be readily available and easily adaptable for each user. Some lens become scratched, pitted, broken, bent or not fit for use. Scratches impair vision and can weaken lenses. Other times, a different tint or grade of lens is required. During such times, it is desirable to be able to easily replace the damaged or inappropriate lens with a fresh lens, while conserving the temple portion. Such interchangeability would also be useful with conventional prescription eyewear.
Interchangeability is also desirable if a user requires a different type of temple or arm portion. Alternatively, in some cases an elasticized or adjustable headstrap is desired for use during sporting activities, in lieu of temples.
Furthermore, conventional eyewear and safety glasses have temples, the length of which is fixed. If the length of the temple is not proper, the wearer may feel discomfort when wearing the eyewear. Furthermore, the improper length can lead to the eyewear being improperly seated on the user's face. It would be desirable to be able to adjust the eyewear to suit different users, easily and inexpensively.
Many of the prior art safety eyewear have had several shortcomings in that they are generally not flexible and have required the use and removal of fasteners which may require tools, when replacing lenses or making sizing adjustments. Other systems require substantial deformation of the lens or frame, making insertion and removal difficult.
The present invention is directed to eyewear having lenses or temple portions which are easily interchangeable and inexpensive to manufacture, yet easy to use and sturdy enough for use in industrial or sporting applications. The present eyewear can also provide for temple lengths that can be adjusted according to the user's needs. A connecting system is desired in the art that would enable such interchangeability.
The present invention is directed to eyewear that is easily assembled on manufacture and therefore leads to lower overall manufacturing costs.
The present invention is not limited to safety eyewear and can be applied to all eyewear that requires simple and inexpensive interchangeability of lenses or temples.